The Refinery

Ok so we just visited The Refinery tonight and I have to say that the service and Dine Out Menu was amazing! Keith (with an «EI») was a great server which made our dinner not only entertaining but relaxing as everything was taken care of for us. This place is a must visit!

Okay place for charcuterie. More on my blog

Came here for a get-​together with some old coworkers and I had an awesome experience.
My friend and I ordered the meat and cheese board and it was delicious! My other friend ordered something with chorizo and potatoes and the flavour was amazing. I loved the atmosphere here — one half was more quiet where you can sit and talk whereas the other side was a bit louder for mingling. I asked if they could make a sangria since it wasn’t on the menu and I loved it! However, my two friends ordered 2 cocktails that were pretty up there in price, but weren’t the tastiest… Overall, I’d definitely come back, but maybe skip out on the cocktails.

Came here for a dine out and really enjoyed the experience. The staff was extremely friendly and attentive (water glasses rarely were empty), the food was quick and it was definitely a good deal at $ 18 for the 3-​course.
The penny floor is beautiful, and I spent a lot of my time marvelling over it. The other thing I noticed is that there was no elevator. I was sporting a pretty hawt baby bump at the time, so the stairs had me huffing but it was still doable.
My only knock is that the portions were small and we both left hungry (smallest lamb shank eveeeer). But then again, $ 18.

Great service and excellent food! Highly recommended. Me and my boyfriend like to come here for brunch. They serve the best brunch and it’s always fresh.

Giving the cocktails four stars, but the rest of the experience ruined it. The music was too loud & repetitive techno, that inhibited having a talk with someone sitting next to you.
Ordered the chorizo, pork belly & cucumber salad, all at the recommendation of our server.
The pork belly had all the creativity of boiling fatty bacon strips & throwing on a plate. There was a substantial pile of fat piled up when the server finally took the plate away. They should feel ashamed serving that dish.
The chorizo was simply flavorless & with zero creativity. Mixed a lot of boiled potatoes with too little chorizo & there you have it. No spice, no flavor. The server claimed she ate both of these dishes regularly, but couldn’t recite the ingredients or seasonings.
Finally, our salad came out last. The dressing was supposed to be a garlic-​mustard vinaigrette, but just tasted like olive oil, with no salt, pepper, vinegar, flavor, etc. Again, the server had no clue about the ingredients, although «we serve this ALL the time» was the direct quote.
Very disappointing.

Went here with a large group and was underwhelmed. They jammed our group of 8 into a table that would have been tight with 6. Service was hit and miss, food ranged from mediocre to down right bad. We tried the tapas with the prosciutto and it had an off flavor and taste. Most of the other tapas selections were «meh», I’ve had much better at other restaurants.

Had such a great time here, had to cone twice during my trip in Vancouver. The bartender Tyler is awesome! His drinks definitely made the experience.
The first night we came a bit late so we only stayed for a couple drinks. I tried the Whippersnapper, awesome drink. The bartender invited us back the next night to get the full experience of all the different drinks. After not being able to get a seat at the Shameful Tiki Room, we decided to come here.
This time we left it up to the bartender to make us drinks. We each had several drinks and shots. I may say that none were disappointing. Every drink we had was amazing. Tyler absolutely took great care of us and you can tell he has a true passion for this.
Also we found out that they cure all thier meats in-​house. So the charcuterie plate is a must try.

I had my birthday at The Refinery with a party of 10 people. I made several changes to my reservation and they were extremely accommodating. This was my first time here and I couldn’t be happier with my choice. Keith was our server that night and he was amazing! He was on top of his game the whole night — I actually appreciate the fact he learned all of our names that evening. It was pretty loud, but there were a lot of celebrations going on that night, plus it was a Friday. It was a great vibe, not to mention the awesome old school hip hop playing in the background. They had great menu options for their drinks and tapas. I will definitely be back!

I finally made it to the real The Refinery and the high reviews were no lies!
First, be aware that The Refinery is upstairs, don’t mix it up like I did with the restaurant downstairs which is not the same experience…
Back to The Refinery:
— First impressive touch was the very welcoming waiter that, when seeing us struggling to choose the right cocktail, just asked us what type of alcohol we like and took it from there to simply improvise one for each of us, according to our taste, and the result was amazing!
— we then went for a mix of cheese and meat plate to share, this is a must! It’s of a good size, with lots of little extras to dip in, all very savoury
— when we chose our main, the waiter kindly asked us if we’d like to follow his advice and share every plate like tapas, which we did and this just made our whole diner so much more friendly, definitively a thing to do more often :) and about the food: just plainly delicious! We took the four main courses on the menu, all 5 stars!
Certainly a place I would recommend to go to with friends!

I had been eyeing the Refinery for a while and was slightly disappointed. I may have overhyped it in my mind and that’s the main reason I am going to give it a ³⁄₅.
Drinks — Solid. Wine list is a bit thin, but they make up for it with their creative cocktails.
Food — I had the ratatouille a few nights ago and my palate was applauding. It was a good size portion, satisfying and well presented. On the flip side is also had their vegetarian flat bread and it was so-​so. Just a bit too bland.
I like the atmosphere of this restaurant and the location is great. This is the type of place that I will come back and try again to see if it can redeem itself.

Cozy, modern and romantic atmosphere. Service is great and food is delicious. Love the duck breast and pear salad. I will come back for small plates definitely.

First stop in Vancouver and it was the best, everything from the food to the cocktails and the service was amazing! I highly highly recommend this place.

My wife and I went to the Refinery before the Bryan Adams concert and were left wanting more.
First of all, if the food even came close to the service we received, then I would be rating Refinery higher. However, the service is the only thing that is keeping it as high as a 3 star.
We arrived to an empty restaurant (not surprised as it was a Wed night at 6pm). Nevertheless, we were greeted by our future server named Keith. He was personable, friendly, and professional. We were actually taken back at first with how appropriately friendly he was when we arrived as he asked for our names and introduced himself. For the rest of the night he addressed us by name and we found this to be a great touch that truly added a sense of attentiveness and personality. I know the place was empty, but we still appreciated how attentive and friendly he was. He made the experience much better.
Since we ordered a bottle of wine, I cannot comment on their cocktails (however, I have heard great things about them). The food at Refinery, unfortunately, leaves MUCH to be desired. While one can make the argument that you get what you pay for (the prices of the small plates were lowish), it doesn’t excuse the lack of creativity and finesse.
The ratio of bread to topping on the bruschetta was too high on the bread side. And the toppings were, at best, pedestrian and resembled something you would quickly make at home (the Meatball one was the best). Maybe I am setting my bruschetta bar too high since I had it at Yaletown Antipasto.
The stuffed Jalapeño peppers, while not aesthetically pleasing, was actually very good (despite the wilted salad that should never have left the kitchen).
And lastly, the confit of potatoes on chorizo, was exactly what it sounds like… potatoes and chorizo. Yes, it was good… but in the end it was literally just potatoes (with soffrito) on a bunch of chorizo. Not much creativity.
All in all, we will not be going back mainly due to the fact that the food did not meet our expectations. It was just plain mediocre. That being said, the service we had was excellent!

Awesome little place located in downtown Vancouver. They have a good collection of wines & whiskeys. They also do some cocktails. I loved the «Prince of Yan». A gin & Chai tea cocktail. Bit on the pricey side, but good music and a very friendly service makes up for it. Definitely worth visiting.
Food: Great
Service :Very Friendly
Ambiance: Casual
Worth the price: Yes

When we walked in I didn’t come with high expectations but would happily recommend this pub to anyone.
The menu was short but of great quality and not your usual pub fare. The reason for the five stars was the superb service, the staff seemed genuine and made us feel welcome.

This place is exceptional and really puts other not-​so-​great fine-​dining options on Granville St. to shame. Ambience, food, drinks, service — they nailed it all. We were a party of 3 served by Keith and was incredibly impressed by his care and timing in fulfilling our special occasion requests, asking how we’re doing throughout the meal (with good humor), refilling our glasses at just the right moments. All of this reminded me of my first time at The Refinery some time ago and why I was so glad to be back.
Their food’s wonderful. I think I’ve tried several plates that were too similar in flavors (Ratatouilles, gnoccchi, meatballs, prawns), but I trust they have something for everyone. Next time I’m going for the scallops and charcuterie.

For being on the Granville St. strip, The Refinery exceeds expectations.
I’ve been to this spot a couple times. The most recent venture was last weekend late (and drunkenly…) on a Friday night. I took my 20 y/​o sister up to Vancouver for her birthday party and put this place on the bar crawl list and it did not disappoint.
Service was friendly and quick and the drinks, while somewhat pricey (although on Granville, you’re not going to find many bargains), were made well. I had 2 classic old fashioneds, which they made with a single, large ice cube, which I always appreciate when a place does that with their old fashioneds. If you’re going to put ice in an old fashioned, that’s how it should be done.
My sister, being a 20 y/​o girl and only knowing how to drink sugary alcohol, wanted a peach bellini. Unfortunately, they were out of peach schnapps, so she asked for an appletini instead for which they were out of the apple pucker schnapps. She ended up ordering the Current Affairs, which was one of their craft cocktails on the menu. It was pretty good in my opinion, but it was still a compromise.
While it’s probably my fault for bringing an unsophisticated palate to a place that certainly favors the savory drinks over the sweet drinks, I gotta take a star away since they were missing an ingredient or two for the drinks we wanted. My sister isn’t the first «WOO!» girl to be on Granville and go to The Refinery, and she definitely won’t be the last. It probably wouldn’t hurt to have a couple extra schnapps bottles in the future for just such an occasion.
The atmosphere is fun too. There was a DJ and an impromptu dance floor. There really isn’t a designated place to dance, but some people started one anyway.
All in all, a great place for drinks if you enjoy being classy whilst drinking. Fun crowd. Good drinks. Friendly service. What else can you ask for?
I haven’t eaten the food here, but I’d like to come in and give it a shot.

Was here with a friend last weekend for their dine out menu.
I tried Sip Restro Lounge so I thought I would give this place a try as well.
Wasn’t super impressed with the food or service. Food was kinda meh. Nothing special and I wasn’t expecting anything special either. I mean it was an 18.00 menu for a reason. I felt like we did food tasting more than anything.
We felt rushed out because after they served us dessert and picked up our plates we didn’t even have to ask for the bill but it just came shortly after. Both my friend and I weren’t full but we paid and left to go somewhere else to eat.

On a rather quiet Friday night I was invited for bevies and food to this fine establishment.
This place used to be my hang out during the Olympics but having outgrown frat house party Granville street I hadn’t been in ages. The décor looks the same and is very ghetto fabulous and inviting. Crowd is early 30s and classy, not young-​wanting– to-​get-​hammered-​suburban which you’d expect because of the location.
Upon arrival we were greeted by our friendly server whom was quick to bring my first cocktail, Petit Château. If you have read my previous reviews you know I’m more of a wine snob than a cocktail connoisseur but this has to be my favorite cocktail ever! It was a bit more on the sour side but out of this world refreshing; and was served in fashion. A geometrical French cocktail glass that you could find in your grandma’s pantry.
We then proceeded to order our bottle of Argentinian Malbec, half bodied and a great complement to our delicious tapas. The beef tartar was the winner, greatly mixed with vegetables accompanied by small pieces of baguettes. The Duck breast was cooked to perfection and my only complain was the small portion. Risotto balls although good were not that memorable.
Needless to day I’ll definitely come back to check out more cocktails and tapas and take in the ghetto fabulous attitude!

J’ai trouvé ce bar un peu par hasard mais aussi grâce à Unilocal.Mon auberge jeunesse était à deux pas de là, et les avis de mes collègues mentionnaient surtout les gentils bartenders qui ont la jasette. Et même si celui que j’y ai rencontré venait tout juste de commencer à y travailler à peine deux semaines plus tôt, il m’a tenu compagnie pendant une bonne heure et demie. En fait, je suis allée à un autre endroit par la suite, mais vraiment, j’ai l’impression que j’aurais passé une meilleure soirée là bas.
J’ai commandé un «drink mystère» en donnant comme simple directive «je veux du gin!» Je né faisais pas ça simplement pour laisser le choix au bartender, mais parce que c’est une option officielle de leur menu de cocktails! Mon cocktail était délicieux. Rafraîchissant sans être trop sucré. Pour accompagner une assiette de charcuteries et fromages, c’était une combinaison parfaite. L’ambiance est à la fois intime et branchée. Ça aussi l’air d’être dans un quartier plutôt touristique mais vu les prix, le fait que c’est au 2e étage et le décor, ça aussi l’air d’un endroit où les gens de Van-​city aiment bien aller.